DHAKA —The cricketers are set to restart their individual training programme at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS), arranged by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) from tomorrow (Wednesday)after a five-day long gap.
The training programme was halted as a precaution since three supporting staff were tested positive for COVID-19, a deadly virus that created a mayhem around the world. But the programme in other six venues continued.
Initially the programme was stopped for three days, later the BCB for further precaution extended it for two days. However with the Sri Lanka series approaching fast, the board wants the players to come back to the ground as early as possible.
Basically, eying the Sri Lanka series, the board has already started small group practice and it will continue once it resumes tomorrow, said BCB Cricket Operations Chairman Akram Khan.
The BCB has already collected the sample of the cricketers for COVID-19 test and Akram said only the corona negative players can take part in the programme.
“Gradually we will increase the members of the group to give the players an opportunity to have a perfect practice session,” he said here today.
“For the time being, three players are practicing simultaneously along with continuing individual training programmes. We have already collected the sample f of the cricketers. The players who will be negative in the Test can join the practice session.”
The conditioning camp for the Sri Lanka series is likely to start on September 21 and before then the players will continue the individual and small group practice, Akram added.
The Bangladesh’s coaching staff including the head coach Russell Domingo have already reached the country but they are in self isolation now for 14 days as per government rules. Domingo will supervise the conditioning camp after his quarantine period ends.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s fast bowling coach Ottis Gibson is in Dhaka now after forcing him to change his travel plan. He was scheduled to reach Dhaka on Monday but the flight cancellation forced him to delay reaching here one day later.
Bangladesh is highly likely to leave the country for Sri Lanka on September 27. After reaching Sri Lanka, they will start their main training programme as they are set to play some practice matches against Bangladesh High Performance (HP) team, who will also stay in Sri Lanka due to their series against Lankan HP team.
The itinerary of the three-match Test series between Bangladesh and Sri Lanka is yet to be released but according to the BCB, the first Test is on October 24. The first two Tests will be hosted by Kandy while the third and final Test will be held in Colombo.BSS
